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User blog:Rac Ward/Finding Rainbow Dash: A Fallout Equestria Fan Fic Part Two
Finding Rainbow Dash: A Fallout Equestria Fan Fic By Rac Ward Part Two: Arrival The rocking of the train awoke Airborne from his slumber. Opening one eye he looks at Starshine and says, “Where are we?” she looks at him and says, “We are almost there.” Sitting up on the bench Airborne looks out the window to see snow falling heavily on the blurry landscape as the train chugs past. Airborne looks back to Starshine and asks, “What happened here?” Starshine replies, “The Empire use to be a beautiful land like Equestria was before the war, the jewel of the North. It was ruled by none other than Princess Cadence, a relative of Princess Celestia and her husband Shining Armor. But when the war began, Princess Cadence declared the Crystal Empire neutral in the conflict, not even taking sides to support her own cousin. As the war dragged on outside the borders of the Empire, ponies from all over fled here to escape the fighting, but the war found its way into the Empire when the zebras started to raid refugee settlements and take prisoners back behind their lines to interrogate for any information they had on Equestria’s defenses. During the latter stages of the war the Crystal Empire entered the war against the zebra’s. When the zebra’s launched their balefire missiles at all of the major cities in Equestria, they also launched them into the Crystal Empire. Princess Cadence survived the initial blasts from the missiles when she placed a magical barrier around the capital city but the zebra’s launched a second wave of balefire missiles as well as missiles containing the Parasprite virus. The second wave of missiles destroyed most of the capital city except for the palace. Princess Cadence and Shining Armor both died from the virus, the effects of the balefire bombs caused an unending winter to set in since then the land has become as cold and lifeless as a windigo’s heart.” Airborne looks back out the window and thinks, ''“I wonder how much of the world was destroyed during the war? It is cruel that beautiful places like Equestria and the Crystal Empire would be destroyed by so much violence and hatred.” ''He looks back at Starshine and says, “What chances to we have of finding anything in this frozen wasteland?” Starshine shrugs and says, “I dunno hopefully some clues telling us exactly what the Ministry of Awesome was doing here and what Rainbow Dash did here that might tell us where she went into hiding.” From the back of the train a gruff voice interrupts the conversation, “We have company.” Looking out the window Airborne sees blurry shapes heading towards the train. He checks his battle-saddle and makes sure it’s loaded. Darkstar says, “Airborne fly up onto the roof of the car and lay down some suppressive fire. Starshine take up a position in the middle of the car, kill anything that comes through the doors that isn’t friendly. Celestial and I will head to the front of the train and protect the engineers.” Airborne nods and tightens the cord of his hat around his chin, then opens the door to the passenger car feeling the cold air swirl around him. Stretching out his wings Airborne is lifted into the air, swooping down onto the roof of the passenger car, Airborne takes up a position and levels the barrels of his battle-saddle at the approaching forms. Taking aim at the nearest figure, Airborne opens fire. BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM, his battle-saddle shaking with the recoil of every shot as he continues to fire at the darkened figures. As the figures emerge from the swirling snowy mists he can see that they aren’t raiders or even slavers but are in fact ghouls. Ever since Airborne left the Enclave nothing in the Equestrian Wasteland frightened him out more than the sight of ghoul ponies, the ponies were all that remained of the poor souls who died in the blasts of magical fire during the war. Some even managed to retain some measure of their former identities when they were alive, but eventually they always degenerated into a slobbering monster that hungered for flesh. The shots from his battle-saddle downed the first ghoul to approach the train, but as the train chugged on the horde of ghoul ponies ran alongside it keeping pace with the train. Some of the ghouls tried jumping onto the train but always slammed into the metal side dashing their brains out and leaving bloody smears as their corpses littered the tracks. The ones that were intelligent enough to climb onto the train were quickly cut down when Starshine fired at them with her battle-saddle. Ahead Airborne could hear the loud gun shots coming from Celestials combat shotgun battle-saddle. As he continued to fire into the horde running alongside the train all of a sudden he was knocked to the ground. Standing above him pinning his wings to the roof of the train car was a ghoul pony. From what Airborne could tell the ghoul pony had been a unicorn in life. Its coat was covered in dirt and dried blood but Airborne could make out a few patches of white fur, it wore the tattered remains of a red jacket that still had a few buttons attached to it. The ghoul’s mane had grown over its face but was parted down the left side of its leaving an icy blue eye staring down at Airborne; the color had all but faded from the hair on the ghoul’s mane and tail which in life must have been a stunning blue color. With its slavering jaws inches from his throat Airborne was sure it would kill him, but instead of ripping his throat out and gorging itself on his intestines it merely stood over him staring into his face. Looking up Airborne could see the flicker of intelligence in the ghoul’s eyes, it spoke in a gargling raspy voice, “Turn back, you are not welcome here warmskin.” Airborne replies, “Welcome or not I will not turn back ghoul.” The ghoul chuckles and smiles as if it were amused, “Your stubbornness will serve you no good here, this is a land for the dead your kind isn’t welcome here.” Airborne spits into the ghouls face, “This is your last warning warmskin if we should meet again I will not be so generous.” Just then the ghoul pony’s shoulder explodes as a bullet rips through it. A black liquid oozing from the wound, the ghoul looks at his shoulder and screams in anger then he whips his head side to side looking for the shooter. As the snow fades and dull sunlight pours through the cracks in the cloud cover Airborne can see the shooter is none other than Starshine. Starshine says, “Get off him you stinking sack of horse apples.” The ghoul contorts his face into a sickly smile and says, “I guess that is my cue to leave.” The ghoul pony backed up a few steps and jumped backwards off the train disappearing into the snowy mist that had once again enveloped the train, as it disappeared Airborne could barely make out its cutie mark, a pink star on a purple shield with three silver stars floating over it. Airborne was thrown to the edge of the passenger car as the train was rocked by an explosion. The train engine itself exploded into a massive fireball that immediately threw shards of hot shrapnel into the air. Starshine pulls Airborne back onto the top of the passenger car and says, “We better go.” Airborne nods in response and flaps his wings flying over the now quickly derailing train he shouts to Starshine, “I hope Darkstar and Celestial are okay” she nods and shouts back, “I wouldn’t be worried it will take more than a train exploding to kill those two.” They watch as the train tilts and falls over on its side sliding for a few yards before coming to a halt. The other cars crashing into each other and splintering sending bits and pieces of wood scattering into the snow as the sounds of the crashing cars fade away Airborne and Starshine fly low over the wrecked train looking for any sign of Darkstar and Celestial. From the smoke and din of the roaring fires of the burning train, Airborne can see two shapes illuminated among the embers. Swooping down and landing among the wreckage Airborne and Starshine trot over to the two figures. Darkstar looks up at them and says, “Glad to see you made it, I was sure those shufflers got you.” Airborne looks at him then to Celestial who is laying on the ground unconscious, Starshine asks, “What happened?” Darkstar gestures to the train and replies, “One of those things had a grenade in its mouth by the time I turned to fire at it the grenade went off. Celestial and I would be dead if it wasn’t for the engineer who shoved us off the train; he sacrificed himself to save us. The blast from the explosion knocked Celestial unconscious but I was sure she was dead before I could feel her pulse.” Airborne nuzzles Celestial under the chin and she groggily wakes up looking at him then blushes slightly. Starshine snorts and paws at the ground saying, “Well now that everyone is alright I think we should get moving. I would rather not stick around I bet the explosion from the train alerted every ghoul and bandit within a ten mile radius to our presence here.” Airborne helps Celestial to her feet and nods responding, “Yeah I agree, but before we go it would be smart to salvage any supplies we can find in the wreckage. I am sure we will need them in this unforgiving land.” While Celestial stands guard Airborne, Starshine and Darkstar poke among the twisted metal remains of the various train cars and look for anything of value in the piles of partially burnt and smashed wooden crates that tumbled out of the train. Airborne managed to find a box of shotgun shells in one crate while Starshine found some healing potions in another. Darkstar trotted up to them with a sack held in his mouth, dropping it in front of them. Opening the sack Airborne pulls out four parka coats that would perfectly protect them from the bone chilling cold. Taking off his battle-saddle Airborne puts on the parka then puts his battle-saddle back on tightening the strap around his waist. Darkstar and the others do the same, it took a bit longer for Celestial to squeeze her armored barding over the parka but eventually she managed it. Airborne looks at his companions and thinks to himself, ''“I am lucky to have ponies like these watching my back in a place like this. I admit it feels great to have somepony to rely on when I need them. All those years I spent in the Wasteland alone feel only like a distant memory now.” '' '' ''Starshine says, “Let’s get going shall we.” Airborne nods and the group trots off into the blinding white as a new snow storm moves in. A few hours later the storm had become worse, the frigid air biting at their muzzles, each breath Airborne takes feels like icy daggers piercing his lungs. Airborne trots to the head of the small group of ponies and yells to Starshine over the wailing wind, “Do you even know where we are going?!” She yells back, “Yes, I do know where we are. Fluttershy had me memorize the terrain of the Empire from an old map we should be approaching the outskirts of the capital city by now.” Airborne looks around and says, “Well if we are on the outskirts how come I don’t see any buildings?!” Starshine squints as she looks around and admits that she cannot see more than a few feet in front of her the white out conditions of the fierce storm made it impossible to view anything that would resemble a structure of some kind. She gestures to the group to continue onwards, as they move through the blinding storm not a sound can be heard. Even the screaming wind seemed to disappear leaving an empty silence that seemed to creep out of the very ground. The echo of the ponies pounding heartbeats marked the only sign of life in this wasteland. The swirling wispy clouds of snow melt away revealing that they are walking down the remains of a shattered avenue lined with the ruins of houses on either side, everything seems so still frozen in time by the deathly chill of the place. As they continue to walk down the street the echoes of their hooves reverberate through the city. Looking up Airborne can see shutters on the windows hang loosely on their hinges others have been frozen open from the years of wind and weather. Large snow banks have filled the lower floors of some of the houses others have had their roof’s collapse as a result of the accumulated snowfall. The burned walls of some of the houses creak as the wind blows through them; Airborne looks back at the other ponies and sees that they too are looking at the devastated remains of this once thriving and beautiful city. Every now and again they would walk around massive craters that destroyed entire blocks of the city these craters became more frequent as they approach the city’s center then the ponies gazed up at the Crystal Palace that was once home to Princess Cadence and her husband Shining Armor. Many of the palaces crystal spires have collapsed and fallen in piles around the base of the palace. Shattered windows and burnt doorframes still stand in place when they had once been beautiful stained glass windows and intricately carved wooden doors. But among the piles of rubble and shards of crystal Airborne sees the bones of hundreds of ponies littering the ground around the palace. Many are covered in a fine layer of powdered snow, Airborne trips over one of the skeletons and doesn’t even managed to dislodge it from its resting place, it had become frozen to the ground after hundreds of years. As the group of ponies travel up the stairs to the entrance of the palace, Airborne can hear faint whispers on the wind. Disembodied voices that seem to come from nowhere, the feeling that they are being watched doesn’t leave him as they enter the palace. Looking around Airborne sees that the floor has been covered in a sheet of ice, underneath some of the windows small mounds of snow have formed. Old portraits still hang from the walls, looking up Airborne can see icicles hanging like jeweled daggers from the ceiling. Upon entering the throne room, they can see the remains of a pony still sitting slumped on the crystal throne. But unlike the skeletons outside this pony still had its skin when they approached the body they could see it wasn’t an ordinary pony it was in fact an alicorn. The alicorn’s body was slender and Airborne guess this meant it was female. Her coat is light pink in color; her mane and tail were a myriad of colors from purple to creamy yellow with her cutie mark being a crystal heart. Her wings were tucked against her side and with her eyes closed it looked as if the alicorn was merely sleeping. On the tip of her horn and icicle had formed, flakes of ice clung to her mane and tail. In the sunlight she glistened with a silvery sheen. Airborne looks as Starshine kneels before the alicorn saying, “I never thought I would see one of the princesses of legend in the flesh.” Airborne cocks his head in curiosity and says, “Who was she?” Still kneeling Starshine replies, “She was Princess Mi Amore Cadenza but she was better known as Princess Cadence in life. As you know she was the cousin to Princesses Celestia and Luna. I would have thought her to have rotted away after so many years but it seems I was wrong. Her magic must have protected her body which was frozen literally in time.” Airborne looks back at Princess Cadence’s body and tears roll down his face. Kneeling before the Princess he pays his respects to the ruler of the once great Crystal Empire, Darkstar and Celestial do the same. As they kneel before the Princess, Airborne feels a cold chill rush up his spine. They were not alone in the room, turning he sees what at first he chalks up to be a trick of the light, a mirage. An exact image of Princess Cadence stands before him, her lavender eyes gazing softly into his. Her gaze causes him to look at the floor, her eyes were filled with sadness and he couldn’t bear to look anymore. One by one the other ponies feel that they too are being watched and stop kneeling before the body of Princess Cadence turning to find they now stand before her very soul. Princess Cadence looks at the ponies and in a hushed distant voice she says, “Who are you? And what do you want here?” Airborne replies, “My princess, we came far to seek the answers to a questions only you will be able to answer.” The ghost of Princess Cadence takes a few steps back and replies, “What would you ask of me?” This time Starshine replies, “My Princess, during the war the Ministry of Awesome imported a lot of technology from the Empire but we know that much of these imports were arcane technology from here in the Empire but what we want to know is what Rainbow Dash personally asked to be imported from the Empire?” Princess Cadence tries to think and replies, “I seem to vaguely recall it had something to do with a special type of crystal technology found here in the Empire but any more than that I cannot recall.” Airborne asks, “Are you sure you cannot remember anything?” Princess Cadence shakes her head no and replies, “I cannot remember much from my life, the last thing I remember was feeling very ill and weak then Shining Armor cradled me in his arms but my vision became so blurry and then it darken. The next thing I knew I was floating above my body watching as Shining Armor close my eyes shut. After that time seemed to stop, forever became a long time as I became a memory. I have been here ever since.” Airborne says, “Where is Shining Armor?” Princess Cadence shrugs and replies, “I don’t know but if he is a ghost like me you can ask him what Rainbow Dash was doing here.” Airborne then says, “Are you going to linger in limbo here forever?” The ghost of Princess Cadence begins to cry and responds, “I failed my people, it was my job to protect them but I couldn’t even do that. Now so many are dead because of me, the Crystal Empire is no more and the greatest shame I bear is not being able to protect my own husband.” Her ghostly tears streamed down her face and fell to the floor, Airborne found himself crying with her even the stoic Darkstar was moved to tears as she cried. Airborne says, “Princess, you have nothing to be ashamed of you did the best you could for your people. Whatever small measure of peace moving on will bring, you have earned it a thousand times over. I am sure that your cousins and maybe even Twilight Sparkle will be waiting for you on the other side.” The ghost stops crying and nods then begins to smile, “Thank you for saying that and your right, I have lingered here for far too long but I will wait a little longer for Shining Armor. So I have a quest for you and your friends. Find my husband and tell him I wait for him here in our palace, if you can do that I have no doubt he will help you answer any questions you have.” The small group of ponies nod in agreement among themselves to the task and watch as the ghost of Princess Cadence fades back into the ether. As they leave the throne room Darkstar says, “How in the hay are we supposed to find Shining Armor in this frozen mausoleum?” Starshine replies, “We have to search the ruins of the palace top to bottom and if we cannot find him here then we will go house to house looking for any sign of him.” Airborne thinks back to the ghoul who had pinned him to the roof of the train car and asks Starshine, “What did Shining Armor look like?” Starshine turns looking at him then pauses for a second thinking, “If I remember correctly, he was a unicorn with a white coat with a blue mane and tail. His cutie mark was a pink star on top of a purple shield with three silver stars floating above it.” Airborne replies, “When we were attacked back on the train, the ghoul who attacked me was wearing the remains of a red uniform coat and he had the same cutie mark you just described.” Starshine stamps her hoof into the floor and says, “Well then it is obvious on what we have to do. Find Shining Armor’s ghoul and bring him here.” Turning to Darkstar she asks, “Do you remember which direction the ghouls left in?” He nods and replies, “Yes, they fled west after the train exploded. All we would have to do is backtrack to the train wreck and follow their hoof prints to wherever they are hiding.” Starshine then says, “Alright let’s get going then.” As the group of ponies leave the palace walking silently down the steps, Airborne can no longer hear the whispering voices but instead sees shadows flitting across the broken windows, as they walk down the central avenue to leave the city they can see hundreds of shadows peering out of the windows watching as they pass by. As they leave the ruined city behind, the snowy mist rolls in again enveloping the Crystal City like a protective blanket freezing the city in time where only the ghostly memories of the past remember. Category:Blog posts